Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1887-09-20
THE OPERA CutlIQUE.
MANY OF THE AUDIENCE ASPHYx
ATeD BY MONOXIDE OF CARBON.

MANY OF THE AUDIENCE ASPHYx
ATED BY MONOXIDE OF CARBON
A Poisonous Gas as Sure and as Rapid
as Prussic Acid-A CowardIy Crowd.
Gen. Bouianger's Stratagem-A Hor-
rible Spectacle.
never saw anything more awful or in its
surrounding circumstances more Partisan
than the burning of the Theatre Comique |
Nearly every one lost head, and nearly every |
one got in the way, until the fire brigade ar
rived on the scene OF the disaster.
The architectural arrangements Of every |
French theatre, save the new opera house, are |
so stupid that a crowd trying to get away |
from fire must needs he as cool as If it were |
American to keep orderly. All the box |
doors on the passage open outwardIy They |
are therefore blocked up if there is a dense
throng and they help to block and cause con
fusion if they can he forced open from
within. This accounts for the number of
persons found dead IN the boxes. They could
not get out once The passages got choked up,
and then were a>phyxiated lay monoXide of
carbon. This gas turned the theatre into n
lcthal chamber, resembling. the one at the
pound where Mysteries dogs are given their
quetuS. This poison is sure and rapid as
oruSSic acid. 1t was given uut at the Opera
Comlque by the burning scenery. But since
it was impossible for the persons who had not
made their way into the corridors before the
stampede began to effect their escape, it was
well for them that the atmosphere was i'm
pregnatcd with this poison. Indeed, under
the terrible circumstances. one may regard il
rs merciful nepenthc
NoNlous gases not only eNtnguish human
life, hut IEt out the oil in few lamps which,
in virtue Of police regulations, We're placed
in the passages SO when the gas was turned
oil darkness reisncd, and the mob into which
the excited and middle headed crowd degen-
Grated knew not wither they were rushing.
\ score or SO rushed down a stair into a pas
sage, the door of which was permanently
locked and which WAS too strong to he knocked
i'll. They overtaken by the monoxide of
carbon, and must have been killed straight
way en- masSe. The servants of the theatre
IN the upper rooms had no chance unless what
they could hope for 10y getting out on a roof
which, IN less than quarter of an hour, was
burned through The service stairs were
about the width Of stairs in a river steamer
and nearly steep, but IF cnrkscrew form,
which rendered descent for number of per
SUns ont ol the question: there beng no foot
hold save on the wide ends of the steps
1t SAW some men of heroic impulse in the
crowd, and | was glad to see a strong and
general sentiment of pity for those who were
visibly in the jaws Of il fiery death. There
were men who rendered efficaciouS assistance,
and at the repeated risk of their own lives, to
persons who were on balconies. at windows
and on the roof when the whole building was
like blast furnace Bet it was Sickening TO
notice the low, vulgar form curiosity took,
the absence OF all reproach of conscience OF
the wish to get out Of the way when the null
titade was palpably an obstruction to the fire
brigade. Demo, was being treated to grand
tragedy in one act, one tableau and one night,
and wanted 10 SET, out the somber and sinister
and awfully impressive spectacle What was
viler than anything else was the cowardiy
rush oil the instant the rumors ran that the
valid adults We're going to be requisitioned to
hand buckets and otherwise aid the iiremen
Gen, Boulanger, who was in the theatre
when the fire broke out, and remained in the
square outside to give help if he saw his way,
took upon hinlsef-untll their own chiefs
came-the command Of the police 1t was,
OWING TO the choked up state of the streets,
impossible for the fire brigad-s to approach
the. confa-ration Gen. Boulanger was equal
10 the -mer gency He told the police to
make believe there was to BE- universal
rcqui>ition OF spectators for water drawing
purposes. Then the streets were fairly We'll
k,,-p l.
uteS. Gen Boulanger also gave the word for
all the court yard doors TO he thrown open
Policemen passed on his order and called on
porters TO open in the name OF the law"
The old habit Of obeyng authority came IN
here, and the benefcent but wholly Illegal
Strata-em Of the general had full success
Americans will hear with pity that the
| pumps could not be brought TO the rescue
within forty-five minutes after they were
| summoned never heheld anything more
| hideous than their position in la Rue de Man
| vaux, Il short and harrow street dehourhug
| on the Place de TOp-r1 COmique 1t WAS a.
| fun of Sightseeing human beings as a herring
| barrel of fishes, There was no means Of 20
| ing back or forward until Gen Boulangci's
| benefcent order went round for court yard
| doors to be opened and hands to he reuui
| sitiOned An order 10 clear off would not
| have been obeyed. Demos would have re-
| sented being deprived of the grandioSe and
| gratis spectacle. But as he could not resent
being called upon to make himself useful in
an humble way-and in the rain-he got out
Of the way in ali the haste he could make
| Then the horses drawing the pumps were
| goaded on with bayonets. There was no
| other way 10 make them advance
The fire was not the worst. What sur
passed everything else in horror was its mar
rage with steam | believe there were more
people steamed TO rags than burned to death
| saw boiled bodies at the provisional dead
hOusa. They were boiled to rags by the
steam, which made its way into hooks and
crannies to which neither flame nor carbonic
| acid penetrated Another feature of the bor-
| rible event We're the smells of roast and boiled
flesh. One would have thought that feast
fit for company of ogres and ogresses was
being got ready These odors havesince been
succeeded by the stencil of carrion, which
floods of diSinfectants are impotent to ban
ish Paris Cor New York Tribune